Bryan, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s back in 2019 and went public with the diagnosis in 2022, was recently put into full-time care as his condition worsened severely
Una Crawford O’Brien and Bryan Murray(Image: VIPIRELAND.COM)
Una Crawford O’Brien has said that the only name that her partner Bryan Murray remembers is that of his dog, Bob, as his Alzheimer’s has worsened.
Una recently shared that she had to put Bryan into full-time care due to the severe deterioration of his condition.
Speaking to Miriam O’Callaghan on RTE Radio 1 on Sunday, she spoke of how he is doing and the decision to put him into a nursing home.
“I was determined to look after Bryan myself, but I just couldn’t in the end,” said Una. “It was a number of things, it was any one thing. Everyday was different, what would be good one day would be bad the next.
“Bryan’s mood changed. He was always so good humoured; now he would get very angry with me and when he would talk to me, I wouldn’t know if the right answer would be yes or it would be no. I was walking on eggshells all the time, which was awful. It was destroying our relationship. He basically was unaware of who I was a lot of the time. Now I can go, I’ll visit him, I can make him laugh, we can sing songs, we can go for long walks.”
Fair City stars Bryan Murray and Una Crawford O’Brien
Bryan’s memory has deteriorated to a point where he can no longer remember anyone’s name – except for his dog’s.
“I don’t know if he knows it’s me, I don’t think he does,” said Una. “The only person he really [knows], and it’s not a person really, is the dog. When I bring bob in, he loves the dog.
“If we’re out walking, he’ll take the lead and at some stage he’ll say, ‘come on Bob’. That’s the only person that he calls by name now. It’s deep down.”
Una also spoke of her hurt at getting comments on social media criticising her for putting Bryan into a nursing home.
“It really upsets me that people would think I would do it without putting huge thought into it,” she said. “I suppose we all think we can cope, but then the day comes that you can’t. And if people are going to judge you for that… I just had to put it down. I couldn’t contend with that.”
Miriam O’Callaghan and Una Crawford O’Brien
Una also spoke of the struggle of dealing with a false post on social media before Christmas that said Bryan had passed away.
“It wasn’t true and people were phoning me very upset,” she said. “I’d know if I saw a phone call from somebody I hadn’t heard from in ages that they had heard or that they had read it. It’s just horrible.”
She also touched on the loss of her daughter Sorcha, who died in a cot death.
“It was actually her birthday on the 15th of this month, she would have been 36,” said Una. “It was cot death. She was an extremely happy, healthy baby. She died on the 12th of July.
Una met Bryan on the set in 2005 and the pair have been inseparable ever since
“It was a roasting day, and she was a fantastic sleeper. I went up to pick her up, it was 9.24pm and I went up and she was blue. It was horrendous. I was so happy when she was born. It was a wonderful time; I already had a little boy, he was four and a half. I thought my life is made, I have my gorgeous son and my gorgeous daughter. And then she died.”
She added: “It took years for me not to feel physical pain. Heartache is real. I miss her. I was only thinking about her the other day and wondering, how different life would be.”
Want to see more of the stories you love from the Irish Mirror? Making us your preferred source on Google means you’ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, simply click here.